


This is Why I Need You

by bombardobecca



Category: Harry Potter - Fandom, Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M, George Weasley Needs a Hug, POV George Weasley, POV Hermione Granger, Post-War
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-17
Updated: 2021-01-19
Packaged: 2021-03-15 21:39:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,508
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28820115
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bombardobecca/pseuds/bombardobecca
Summary: A small little fic about Hermione and George discovering themselves again after the war by finding comfort in each other.Disclaimer: I do not own any of the rights to this universe or its characters. All credit goes to J.K. Rowling.
Relationships: Hermione Granger/George Weasley
Comments: 2
Kudos: 8





	1. New Beginnings

**Author's Note:**

> No idea where this is going but I guess we'll find out together! Idk what I'm doing so please bear with me <3
> 
> Suggested music for this chapter:  
> The Last Song On Earth by Adam Melchor & Emily Warren  
> Morning is Made by Hush Kids.
> 
> xoxo

2004 - Five Years Post-War

Hermione Jean Granger was never one to divert from the expected. All of her life she had strived to be the best she possibly could: at school, at home, and at keeping up her long-standing reputation of being the smartest witch of her age. 

Throughout school, she had always done what was needed — what was right. Even during the hardest parts of the war, she acted her part and did her best for her friends and for the countless other people who counted on her, Harry, and Ron to lead the way and stand as pillars for strength and justice in the face of the tyranny and violence that was Voldemort and the Death Eaters. 

After the war, the normality of life returned once more to the wizarding world. She and her other classmates graduated; some began new careers, some started families, but most, above all, tried to find meaning in the mundane. For Hermione, life became less black and white: there was no longer a villain to slay, no high-risk problem to solve. She was finally granted the opportunity to do what so many other witches and wizards of her age had not been allowed before the start of the war: she was going to live. 

Really, fully live. Hermione Jean decided it was time to hunker down and find out what her true passions were; what really made her tick, what she truly enjoyed about life. After many (many) failed attempts at finding what she did like, the only thing Hermione managed to do was decide what she didn’t. The list she compiled went as follows: 

Things I do not like:  
Baking  
Yoga (what a bloody waste of time)  
Ron.

After the countless years of build-up and the final release of her kissing Ron Weasley during the battle, Hermione had determined she was better off with Ron as just a friend. She knew deep down that they could never work together as a couple: she was too stubborn, too obsessed with knowledge and learning to ever entertain the thought of being with someone in that way, and he was equally brutish, unappeasable, and desperate to hold onto the threads of their old life together before the war. 

Ron, as expected, did not handle the news well. Over the years, though, they learned how to forgive each other, to rekindle their friendship, and to say goodbye to their childish fancies and naive desires of being together. Their life together as a couple, Hermione knew now, would have only contained heartbreak, discomfort, and lots of arguing.

It was time to move forward, to hold tight, and to remember the foundations of her old life and friends. She now had to attempt to piece together a new version of herself after the fallout of it all.

Needless to say, the past five years of her attempt at rediscovering herself had been fruitful in many ways, disappointing in others; such was the way of life. She nurtured her love of fairness and justness, choosing to become an activist helping to defend underrepresented magical groups at Wizengamot. She slowly learned what her other passions and enjoyments were throughout the few precious years of peace and freeness she had had the pleasure of experiencing. She took up writing in her spare time, as well as collecting muggle records for her little record player her parents had purchased her years ago.

For Hermione Granger, life was starting to become something she could make sense of again, something she could enjoy without worrying about what was to come next. She was finally beginning to enjoy the expected and sometimes mundane, beginning each day like she was opening up a crispy wrapped package made just for her, inside of which contained all of the ingredients needed to thoroughly enjoy the life she had made for herself.

Although, Hermione thought, there was always one thing in her life constantly forcing her to keep herself on her toes; one thing she had gotten used to its being around, even though it was sometimes unpredictable and flighty, which kept her more adventurous side engaged and constantly excited. That thing, though, was really rather more of a person. And his name was George Weasley.


	2. Picking Up The Pieces

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> George's journey in trying to piece it all together again.
> 
> TW/CW: Descriptions of grief, mentions of loss/death

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Recommended Songs for this chapter:  
> Meadow Song - S. Carey  
> Young Bodies - Sea Wolf
> 
> I think (?) I'm going to do one more chapter after this, combining both Hermione and George's thoughts/experiences and writing a simple chapter showing a random day they share together, and how they enjoy each other’s company. It might change, so who knows! Hope you enjoy.
> 
> Any criticisms/comments are appreciated as this is the first fic I've ever written and I'm very new at this!
> 
> xoxo

2004

George’s heart had been split into two. Since that day at Hogwarts, he had never felt the same again; he would never feel whole again. To think about living without his twin by his side was unimaginable; to experience it was practically unbearable. 

He had tried to go on, tried to pick up the pieces of his life after Fred was gone, but he could never quite get the hang of embodying the same old pranking, upbeat wizard that he was before. Over the last few years, he had felt hollow: a shell of a person who was simply surviving, trying to go on without the strength and presence of his other half. 

Although he still worked at their shop on Diagon Alley, George couldn’t seem to find as much enjoyment in the things he used to love. Pranking didn’t feel the same anymore, and helping other people feel that same joy oftentimes reminded him of the pain he felt, the anger he held against the universe in forcing him to live without his twin. 

George felt broken. How could anyone, his friends, his family, love him just the same when he was so different a person now? It seemed impossible to expect that from the people he loved. 

He was tired of people giving him pity or sympathy because of his situation, even if they often meant well by it. His mum and his other siblings grieved alongside him and gave him sad looks whenever he would stop by the burrow for family dinners, but they could never understand his personal heartbreak of losing a twin. 

They would joke and laugh and reminisce about their times with Fred, and although it was comforting, the pain for him was still and always would be raw, his emotions stuck frozen in time with the same intensity he had felt on that terrible world-shattering day.

Even if they couldn’t fully understand, it didn’t mean they didn’t love him fiercely. They just felt the pain along with him in different ways. He knew that, he really did, but it didn’t make bearing the unique burden of his loss anymore manageable.

~~~

With the world still turning and time moving on, George still had to try. He could at least do that. The change was slow: an appreciation of the snow falling softly on quiet days, watching the steam rise up from his cup of tea — the little things began to take on more meaning, became more precious for him overtime. 

He began to find solace in more and more things each day. He kept track of the best ones: his cozy flat in one of the buildings across from WWW, a nice cuppa after a long day at the shop, and most of all, his growing companionship with Hermione Granger. 

It was never meant to happen, really, especially after Hermione and Ron’s decision to remain friends. But once Hermione moved just around the corner from him after she graduated from Hogwarts, things just sort of...fell into place. 

He couldn’t help but notice that growing warmth in his chest whenever she would pop by after a day of studying to peek in and check that he was doing okay. 

And so what if they did fall asleep together on his couch a few times after having a late-night-heart-felt discussion about his loss and their shared feelings of grief about the war? 

He oftentimes felt that others wanted him to change back to his old self, to sew together the pieces of his heart and return to “normal”, whatever that meant. 

But she was one of the only ones who never expected him to be the same old George that everyone knew before. She simply wanted him to be there with her, to share the good and the bad together — and to George, that was all he could ever wish for. 

Over the months of their shared understanding and kinship, George slowly began to make peace with his situation. He learned to let the past version of himself, the one who was half of a duo, who was always upbeat and energetic, rest in the back room of his mind instead of aimlessly trying to revive him back to life for others.

George knew, or at least hoped, he would come back soon. For now, he would allow himself to be who needed to be, to grieve how he needed to grieve, and to experience life each day, without wishing any of it away. 

And Hermione promised to be right there with him, learning to love the new George without urging him to change in any way.

He didn’t need to be whole again to still be deserving of kindness and love, George thought. He just needed to be. The rest would fall into place.


End file.
